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Fall to Pieces

DECEMBER 20

MATTHEW 7:27_and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell…

It is a sad thing to see a life fall apart. There are many ways a life can break. It is not always from hardship. Sometimes success can break a life.  Sometimes, the greater the success the harder the brokenness. The truth is, very often success destroys. 

If you find it hard to believe success can lead to destruction open your eyes. Pay attention to people who are in the limelight. Have you been a fan of a celebrity and watched them fall off the porch? This is especially true for those who are an overnight sensation. 

Building character requires time, lots of time.  When you try to rush through life by skipping over your God-designed waiting period, you often develop the talent, but not the character. Character is the rock-solid foundation of life. Talents are like houses, they need to be squarely set on firm foundations. Brilliant talents and abilities built on sandy soil, then beat upon by the floods of success and popularity, can fall to pieces.

Psalm 27:14 (KJV), “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”

You may be destined for global greatness, but give God time to prepare you.

 PRAYER

Savior of the World, Help me wait on You to develop character in me! In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.          

Christ prepares me for my purpose – I will wait!

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More Like a Flood

DECEMBER 19

MATTHEW 7:27_and the floods came…

If the rain continues relentlessly, watch out for floods. Like many things in life, too much rain is not a good thing. 

Very young children learn mostly from experience. They also learn from instruction, but there is only so much their young minds can absorb.

You may be in the process of teaching your toddler not to play so close to the edge of the porch. If they persist, it is because they don’t completely understand. For the strong-willed, it may be they don’t believe there is a problem. The strong-willed enjoy playing close to the edge. Without any form of discipline to enforce your warnings the inevitable is bound to happen. They fall off the edge and experience pain and fear. What the young mind couldn’t or wouldn’t comprehend was learned by association—with pain and fear. For the strong-willed that may not be a bad way to learn. This does not mean strong-willed children are bad. We need them! They just require a lot of training from parents.

When you’ve reached your teen years the edges in life can be a lot more dangerous. To give up the kind of play you enjoy might cause rain in your life. To experience pain and fear is more like a flood. If you submit to the advice of the people who love you, some floods will never occur.  

As you grow you will encounter far more dangerous situations than falling off a porch.

Move from soil to the Rock while you’re young.   

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, Help me learn from the rains so I won’t have many floods! In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.          

Christ can teach me through rain—He saves me in floods!

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Things to Come

DECEMBER 18

MATTHEW 7:27_And the rain descended…

I see a connection between the beginning of this verse and verse 25. Do you see it? It’s something we’ve seen all along. Trials, storms, disappointments, sufferings, and hard times, come.

They come regardless of whether you’ve built your house on the Rock, or on the sand.

They come to the wise as well as to the foolish.

They come!

Prepare yourself!

Jesus gives wise advice in John 16:13 (KJV), “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear [from God], that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”

The Holy Spirit can prepare you for things to come. He speaks as you read the Bible and bears witness of its truth. The Holy Spirit makes you wiser than your enemy the devil, who wants you to fear the rains life can bring. Become a child of God and have the advantage of the Spirit’s teaching and leading. 

Jesus doesn’t teach the Spirit will predict your future.

The Holy Spirit will increase your faith, build your trust, and prepare you for whatever the future has in store. 

PRAYER

Glorious Lord Jesus, Thank You for the Holy Spirit. Help me listen and learn! In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.          

Christ prepares me for the future—Whatever it brings!

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If There Is No God

DECEMBER 17

MATTHEW 7:26_shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.

Why do we make foolish decisions? Because we make them. For goodness sake, where do we come up with the idea we know what is best for ourselves? We’re sinful people born with a sinful nature. When left to ourselves we make foolish decisions.

Psalm 14:1(KJV) “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” Someone made a foolish decision to make that statement!

If there is no God we are all doomed.

Destined to build life on sandy soil.

No hope.

No secure life built on the Rock.

No becoming salt and light in our dark world.

No hearts filled with genuine, unconditional, compassionate love.

No true wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. 

Most of all, no hope of eternal life.

The One True God gives us:

Psalm 16:9 (KJV), “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.”

Psalm 31:24 (KJV), “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.”

Psalm 38:15 (KJV), “For in thee, O Lord, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.”

There is nothing sandy about soil filled with hope!

PRAYER

God of Hope, All my hope is in You! In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.          

Christ is true and eternal—He gives me hope!

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He Knows Storms Are Coming

DECEMBER 16

MATTHEW 7:26_shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.

Psalm 127:1 (KJV) “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” 

Vain is empty and useless—it is foolish. God will never instruct you to build your house on sandy soil. He knows the storms are coming.

Some storms come by God’s design. He designs them to help build your life on the security of the Rock. Everyone has weaknesses. God desires to turn them into strengths. Because He knows individual weaknesses, He knows what is required to strengthen them.

To strengthen the weak requires some type of pressure. Weakness does not have the ability to strengthen itself. An outside force is required. The pressure from a force generally brings pain. If you’ve ever done any kind of strength training you understand—not pleasant at the time, but necessary for a positive result.

You can design your own storms—usually when you try to escape the pain from the God-designed storms. The combination of your storms with God’s storms causes far more pressure than your life needs.

PRAYER

Eternal God, Please strengthen my weaknesses. Help me be grateful for Your designed storms and keep me from designing my own. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.          

Christ’s storms are good for me—I will learn patience!